Give it up for some word throw up.. er.. flow: Stardew the Dew Valley

My dream for this little baby WordPress account was for me to be able to let some conscious word barf happen. I might review a little bit of this. Maybe a little bit of that. In fact, let’s throw out a little review or two right now.

I am currently playing Stardew Valley. <– Click that mother flippin’ link.

It’s a Harvest Moon-esque game, I’ve been told. I personally wouldn’t know. I’ve never played any of the Harvest Moons. Anyway, I’m enjoying it way more than I ever imagined I would. It has sprite graphics that remind me a lot of RPG maker characters. It has farming. It has romance. It even has 4 seasons. As a Texan… WHAT?!

If you think it’s just a farming simulator (as I first thought it would be), you’re wrong. No, I don’t want to hear your arguments. You. Are. Wrong.

There are quests, there’s killing of monsters, there’s magic, there’s collection, there’s events and secrets galore! I mean.. you can even fish up some 21inch chub.. How hot is that?

The game starts a bit slow as you are earning money and doing more menial quests, but as time progresses and you start to notice that cute doctor from the hospital eyeing you, or that sexy redhead checking you out, you’re fully invested. You start giving up your turnips and your diamonds for this person and in the back of your mind, you’re like.. wtf am I doing? These are pixels and I’m LOSING MONEY.

It doesn’t matter though. Love always wins out. Unless you become a vagrant like the guy in the tent… Poor Linus.

Anywho, it’s amazing. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. The controls can be a bit fiddly to get used to, but otherwise, it’s a simple game with a simple concept.

On that note, there is one improvement that I suggest you apply yourself. There are actually mods available for this game. You can find the loader here. SMAPI is the bomb. It consolidates all the mods you’d like to use and runs Stardew Valley on its own loading up the mods as it goes. It’s a no brainer. Google foo up a step by step if you are in dire need. I’m not going to go repeating the process when I know there are other who have done it before me. GIVE THEM THE CREDIT, YA KNOW?

So once you have SMAPI, you want to get any mod that lets you increase your move speed. The beginning of the game is absolutely grueling when all you can do is walk. Slow. As. Shit. Everywhere. Eventually you will open fasted transportation methods, but those are spoilers and we can’t have those here.

I would say the one major flaw right now is that after you get hitched to your guy or gal, they kind of become Stepford Wives/Husbands. It’s been going around that they will be adding more meat to the social aspect of the game so keep your hopes up if that’s what you like!